Alright, I haven't updated this since Chicagoland so forgive me for not bothering to go over the races/qualifying sessions in great detail. Suffice to say that the races have pretty much been shared between Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch as both men establish themselves as the guys to beat if anyone wants to win the title. Qualifying has seen the HMS boys of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr move past Kyle for the lead and with just two races before the Chase begins, there are (mathematically at least) still 26 drivers battling to make the final 12.
All up, 53 drivers have scored points in the QC, with Johnson leading the way after continuing his hot streak in the past month.
Johnson has been on a tear and leads the QC with two races before the Chase.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 24 rounds:
While there has been just the one change in names since my last update (Vickers in for Nemechek), there has been a fair bit of shuffling around.
The RC has seen 46 guys scoring points, with Tony Raines bringing up the rear having finished 17th at Bristol last week. No change in the top 20 as far as drivers go, but Tony Stewart has gone from tenth to sixth so he's faring much better in the races than in qualy.
This has been a familiar sight this year...but Edwards is gunning for him.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 24 rounds:
With the 'end of regular season lead' being between Kyle and Carl, the real battle will be whether or not David Ragan can slip into the Chase at the expense of either Denny or Kevin...I think the rest of them are out of it.
Well, we’re just passed the halfway point in the season and it’s looking like 2007 all over again; the one guy still leading both titles.
Joe Nemechek managed to bump out AJ Allmendinger after the solitary qualifying run at Daytona (no points for washouts remember) while Dale Earnhardt Junior has swapped places with Jimmie Johnson and closed the gap between himself and Kyle Busch from 54 points to 30.
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - top 20 standings after 19 rounds:
The two races have been a complete Kyle Busch benefit as his lead over the rest has grown to over two full races now. No personnel changes within the top 20, but Matt Kenseth, due to his recent hot form, has risen to fourth from eighth while both Jeff’s lost two spots.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 19 rounds:
After a week off, the teams head to Indy and Tony Stewart will be hoping to repeat and give his season a big shot in the arm.
On a side note, I did some digging around and found some interesting stats. The comparison between the actual Cup points this time last year and now makes for interesting reading:
(2007) Jeff Gordon - 2911 points, 4 wins, 12 top fives, 17 top tens, 1 DNF, 764 laps led and a 303 point lead over second place (Denny Hamlin at that stage).
(2008) Kyle Busch - 2881 points, 7 wins, 12 top fives, 13 top tens, 1 DNF, 1065 laps led and a 262 point lead over second place.
Now, I don’t seem to recall Chevrolet attracting as much stick about having a significant advantage over everyone else (they did launch a new engine package, remember?) as Toyota are this year and yet Jeff had a bigger lead in the Championship. I do wonder if Kyle will be getting all of those “the Chase is unfair since he’ll lose his big championship lead!” comments like Jeff did around this time of the season…something tells me he won’t, but Kyle won’t care as long as he can keep winning I guess.
Martinsville saw Denny Hamlin finally collect his first grandfather clock. He's been rather handy at the paperclip track but until now hasn't been able to pick up a win...mind you, with Jimmie Johnson practically monopolising this place, that's not really surprising. Speaking of Johnson and the HMS boys, they had a fantastic race and had all four cars running in the top 10 for the most part and wound up second, fourth, sixth and seventh just to remind us that they are still a threat this year. Jamie McMurray and Regan Smith had solid races and finished in the top 15.
Hamlin guided his #11 Camry to score Toyota's second Cup win in his home state.
Texas saw a snoozefest that made me wish I had taped the Indycar race instead. The F1 race from Bahrain was far more exciting since you had Kimi trying to close down on Felipe during the middle stint and also the three-way tussle between Kovalainen, Trulli and Webber. Anyway, back to the Cup race and Carl Edwards scored his third win of the season to go past Dale Earnhardt Jr for second in the standings, a fraction behind Kyle Busch who maintained his lead due to finishing third behind Edwards and Johnson. Jeff Gordon had a torrid time and finished last after struggling with the handling of his Impala SS until it finally caught him out (no photo for Carl since I can't find a decent one of his Texas car).
Edwards and Johnson gained the most the last two races, going from sixth to second and thirteenth to seventh respectively while Greg Biffle drops down from equal third to ninth. Reed Sorenson is the only driver to drop out of the top 20, making way for Mark Martin.
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - top 20 standings after 7 rounds:
Tight at the top with just half a point between two of the 'new generation' but there's a whole bunch of experienced guys lurking in their wheelpaths as we head to Phoenix and the first Sunday afternoon race for me :)
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian who was living in New Zealand before moving to Canada. He's also a Civil Engineer who is hoping to spend his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant or Contractor when he finds a job. His heart is torn between his two loves; F1 and NASCAR.
Due to his high interest in those, his blogs will likely focus on them with the occasional foray into sports that don't get much (if any) mention on this website. All blogs and/or comments will more than likely have his usual dollop of sarcasm and general Aussie spin on them.
Amazingly, he also managed to score 2 MiB nominations on consecutive days (August 5 & 6, 2007) after announcing he had been keeping track of them...he's considering hiding under his bed as a result.
